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What if camp is life as it should be? What if camps are places and spaces where the veil is thin and the inbreaking of the kingdom of God feels close? What if the way we live and breathe and have our being at camp is exactly who we were made to be as people of God, community of Christ, and the whole of creation? On this episode, we'll begin to break open some of these theological and philosophical ideas that give foundation and relevance to outdoor ministries. We'll talk about 4.5 of many critical observations of our culture and communities today and consider where camp excels in offering an antidote to what's broken and breaking. We've got a #statoftheweek that speaks to the emotional reality of our youth, a #QuickQampQuestion that begins to call us to our, "What now?", and the debut of a new occasional podcast segment called More or Less. Book Mentions: A Common Book of Camping by Jerry Manlove Theology of Hope by Jürgen Moltmann Surprised by Hope by N. T. Wright Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv The Nature Fix by Florence Williams The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt Grit by Angela Duckworth Together by Vivek H. Murthy #StatOfTheWeek Send us Fan Mail Support the show Connect with our team. Support the podcast. Ask about advertising opportunities. Find us on Facebook & Instagram.

Season 6 is here! Welcome to the playground, whether this is your first time or you've been around for years. We're so excited to get back behind the mic for a season of camp-y conversations, stats and stories, and difference-making insights. On this episode, we'll kick off season 6 with gusto as we share some of what you can expect from this podcast in the months ahead, including new pop-up segments like Camp Nerd Trivia, More or Less, Got Skills, and Trending, Bending, or Ending. We'll also share the findings from our 3rd annual Post-Summer Pulse Check survey. Some things have held steady, and some shifts are coming into focus. Listen in as we unpack those insights, and download the accompanying graphics - our #StatOfTheWeek as well as a full infographic of the Pulse Check Insights. Quick Links: Pulse Check Infographic #StatOfTheWeek Camp Research Hub Send us Fan Mail Support the show Connect with our team. Support the podcast. Ask about advertising opportunities. Find us on Facebook & Instagram.

Summer is here! Camp leaders, your staff have arrived, or are arriving soon. This episode is designed specifically for them. We're speaking right to those emerging adult summer staff about to make ministry happen at camp this summer. On this episode, we'll take a minute to share some of what we know about summer camp staff, and contextualize it for this summer's staff teams. They'll hear some words of encouragement, motivation, connection, and, some critical information about the fundamental things that make camp thrive paired with some practical ways for summer staff to embed these fundamentals into life at camp this summer. Leadership staff, here are few ideas for how to use this episode as a training and equipping asset for your summer staff: Listen to or watch the episode as a full team in staff training, and discuss in small groups or a whole large groupDistribute to staff members and have them listen, jot notes, and discuss learnings and applications over a meal or in a training session.If your staff haven't arrived yet, send to them as a pre-training listen, and create time to discuss during training after they arrive.Whatever the format, context matters, so encourage them to write down the practical action steps given with context to your particular camp's setting and experience and to share those ideas with the staff team.Mostly, summer staff members, on behalf of all the campers and families you are about to serve, we hope and pray that you hear confident encouragement and deep gratitude for what you've said yes to. Thank you. Send us Fan Mail Support the show Connect with our team. Support the podcast. Ask about advertising opportunities. Find us on Facebook & Instagram.

It's the season 5 finale! Summer is almost here, and for some, it feel like it's time to PANIC! We get it, you get it, your fellow leaders get it. The sprint up to staff arrival and camper arrival can get overwhelming. On this episode, we'll talk through seven things you, your staff, or your colleagues may be starting to feel panic about, and how to find some focus amidst the "too much." In our #QuickQampQuestion, we'll also share the single most-impactful thing executive/director-level leaders can do right now for your camp. Thanks for an incredible season, friends. What an honor to walk with you through this season of ministry! Quick Links: Camp Enrollment Cliff Episode, Summer Fundraising Tips, Summer Staff Support Systems, #StatOfTheWeek Send us Fan Mail Support the show Connect with our team. Support the podcast. Ask about advertising opportunities. Find us on Facebook & Instagram.

Character. This word is, as our guests on this episode will say, a "big tent" concept. As the American Camp Association has been exploring, building, and developing the Character at Camp Initiative and the Character at Camp Grant Program, the word character has had a galvanizing, unifying effect. We can be aligned in seeking to create experiences that develop something deeper beyond the outdoor-driven fun, even as we differ in method, model, and even mission. On this episode, we're joined by two members of the team at ACA that strategizes and implements Character at Camp. Brian Massey serves as Director of Innovation for ACA, and Dave Bollen serves as a Character at Camp Grant Success Manager. These dynamic leaders will share where the initiative is now, where it's going, and they'll peel back the curtain a bit on what it takes to successfully be a part of this mission as Character at Camp moves forward, including some keys to submitting a compelling grant application. Quick Links: Character at Camp Initiative, Character at Camp Grant Program, Wave 2 Application Information, Upcoming Webinars, Contact the Team, ACA Now Newsletter Send us Fan Mail Support the show Connect with our team. Support the podcast. Ask about advertising opportunities. Find us on Facebook & Instagram.

They're coming. And then, they're staying, and working, and playing, and praying, and connecting, and serving, and living this moment of their lives together at camp. Your staff, when fully equipped throughout the summer with three things they need to thrive, will be a difference-making, camper-retaining, relationship-forging, joy-slinging force at your camp. This is true for "classic" summer youth camps with young adult staff and remains true for hosts and hospitality teams at camps or retreat and conference centers. We're borrowing from educators in sharing 10 things in 5 categories: a person, place, thing, idea, and action. You'll find each of these 10 concepts actionable now, and able to get plugged in and/or contextualized for your community still before this summer. Our #StatOfTheWeek reminds us how deeply summer staff tasks must be connected to your mission, and they should know it. Quick Links: Summer Staff Findings, Holy Ground 2026, Downloadable Staff Resources, #StatOfTheWeek Graphic Send us Fan Mail Support the show Connect with our team. Support the podcast. Ask about advertising opportunities. Find us on Facebook & Instagram.

This episode features good friends of ours, Jess and Jessica, who lead vibrant associations of camps, conference centers, retreat centers, and farms. We'll hear where, how, and why generating insights and then using them well is becoming increasingly impactful and consistently critical to decisions, actions, and strategy at each layer of outdoor ministries. Jess Elfring-Roberts serves as the Executive Director of Episcopal Camps & Conference Centers and Jessica Gamache serves as the Executive Director of United Methodist Camp & Retreat Ministries. These bright voices bring different perspectives, experiences, skill sets, and organization models, and yet deeply aligned missions. As a camp leader, you are living and working in the "both/and" often, with a focus on ensuring your individual ministry is thriving, while also knowing you're part of something bigger, spanning geography, theology, and praxis. Quick Links ECCC UMCRM Camp Research Hub (project findings) #StatOfTheWeek Send us Fan Mail Support the show Connect with our team. Support the podcast. Ask about advertising opportunities. Find us on Facebook & Instagram.

We're in an action phase at camp, or at least we hope they are in an action phase. That "they" is camper parents. On this episode, we're laying out five strategies backed by recent insights that can help lead parents to the critical actions we want, and need, them to take right now. We want to lead them to register, recruit, and retain. These key actions, and leading as many parents as possible to take them confidently and decisively, can be catalyzed by our intentional intervention and effective engagement. Each strategy is then paired with an attainable action that we can take right now that will help lead these parents to action. Grab your favorite notepad or task manager and get ready to contextualize your next steps. Plus, our #StatOfTheWeek highlights where we were post-camp 2026 with parent likelihood to recommend camp, and helps us wonder what we're doing to equip and empower those enthusiasts to tell our story. Quick Links Camper Recruitment & Retention Playbook - Travis Allison Immersive 1st & Day Camp Community - Dan Weir Cho-Yeh Cookies Tic Tac Toe Marketing for Camps #StatOfTheWeek Why Camp? Kit Send us Fan Mail Support the show Connect with our team. Support the podcast. Ask about advertising opportunities. Find us on Facebook & Instagram.

On this episode, we're around a table with five incredible camp leaders bringing different perspectives from their role, to geography, to camp journey, to denomination, and more. We're sharing this table while gathered at Camp Wapo in Amery, Wisconsin for CampWell X Sacred Playgrounds - a training event around well-being at camp in partnership with our friends at the Alliance for Camp Health. We know summer staff are the heart of many of our ministries. We also know that camp builds incredible skills and consequential character. The question is, how? What does it really look like, and how do camp ministry practitioners create space and facilitate an experience that does this? Jared guides a conversation around the mic with Jess Gulseth from Red Willow Ministries, Jesse Klosterboer from Sugar Creek Bible Camp, Hazel Banisky from Camp Wapo, Aidan Tack from Covenant Point Bible Camp, and Henri Santelman from Luther Crest, uncovering some of the on-the-ground, happening now things that actually build the summer staff experience in a way that impacts these young adults, for life. Our #StatOfTheWeek shares what can happen when a summer camp staff experience creates space for God to call people to a life of professional ministry. Quick Links Camp Builds CampWell x Sacred Playgrounds #StatOfTheWeek Send us Fan Mail Support the show Connect with our team. Support the podcast. Ask about advertising opportunities. Find us on Facebook & Instagram.

There's a shift coming, and it affects camp in significant ways. On this episode, we'll talk about why, how, and when it's coming, and leave you with some ideas to get ahead of it. When you lay out the story thread of camp over the story of demographic shifts through our past and present, you can wonder with wisdom about what's next. As we follow things like rate of live births, replacement data, diversity, as well as the impact of milestones like the late '90's and early 2000s participation swell, the 2007 peak birth rate, the 2016 election, the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent decline in birth rates, and more, we can then extrapolate the potential camper numbers that follow. We'll unpack the conversation and learning that Jake had with respected demographer, Ken Gronbach, who had deep insights based on waves of historical demographic changes and the impact of recent shifts for what's ahead for industries like camp. Jake then got the chance to join our friends from GoCampPro on the CampHacker Podcast to begin this conversation with fellow camp leaders. Today, we dive even deeper and bring some context to this reality for Christian camps in particular. Here's the truth - we have to get ahead of this. We'll leave you with seven things we can begin to do in our ministries to help us thrive in the midst of this opportunity. Buckle up. Our #StatOfTheWeek sets the table for our conversation with the stats on demographic differences in Christian affiliation. Our #QuickQampQuestion is flipped this week, and at our site you can see the list of camp-leader-crowd-sourced ideas for podcast to listen to, books to read, professionals to follow, and other communities to connect with. Quick Links CampHacker Podcast Enrollment Cliff Episode Demographer Ken Gronbach Pew Religious Landscape Study #StatOfTheWeek Camp Crowdsourced Leader Resources Send us Fan Mail Support the show Connect with our team. Support the podcast. Ask about advertising opportunities. Find us on Facebook & Instagram.

We've learned so much about summer camp staff over the past few years. With insights from more than 2000 summer staff members at more than 120 camps in the last 5 years, plus additional data from projects like the ACA Youth Impact Study and more, we know quite a bit about the emerging adults who make your summer ministry work. And here's the truth. The more you know about who they are, where they come from, the experiences they carry with them, and what they care about, the better you can create an impactful experience for them and the campers they serve. On this episode, we'll lay out 5 stages of the summer staff journey. We'll focus on the front end of the journey, the first 3 stages, and the insights that can impact how we recruit, prepare, and train. We'll share updated data on motivations for joining staff, internship-worthy skill and character building, and staff mental, emotional, and social health. We'll explore four things that can and should happen during the staff preparation phase. Then, we'll touch on what summer staff say about training and how prepared they felt. The insights help us positively inform and influence these critical parts of the staff journey for the heart of your ministry. Quick Links CCLP · ECLP · UMCRMSIS Camp Builds Episode MESH+ Episode Pre-Camp Prep Episode Staff Training Checklist #StatOfTheWeek Download Send us Fan Mail Support the show Connect with our team. Support the podcast. Ask about advertising opportunities. Find us on Facebook & Instagram.

On this episode, we welcome Jake back from his journey to Egypt, where we travelled with other camp and church leaders on a pilgrimage that lead them to and through places and spaces with deep Biblical, historical, and spiritual significance. We'll hear stories from Mt. Sinai, the Nile River, and more. As Jake weaves key parts of his experience, we'll uncover where pilgrimage and camp intersect, and where scripture stories come alive. Pilgrimage takes us from where we are, to a set-apart space with significance, and returns us often changed. It is a journey, more for the sake of journey than destination. Camp can often be like this for participants, and this holy concept of pilgrimage can be a good lens for us to look through as leaders. Our #StatOfTheWeek reminds us of how camp leaders were feeling at the end of last summer and how to set yourself up for post-camp energy. Then, our #QuickQampQuestion asks about camp's potential power to bridge the divide in our country - with real-time reactions to what's happening around the US right now. Quick Links: Elias Tours CampWell x Sacred Playgrounds Training for Christian Camp Leaders Send us Fan Mail Support the show Connect with our team. Support the podcast. Ask about advertising opportunities. Find us on Facebook & Instagram.

Happy New Year, camp and camp-connected friends! It's 2026, and we're kicking off the new year with our annual installment of the New Year's resolutions for camp. On this episode, we'll share a fresh set of hopes and dreams for camp based on the latest research data and conversations with camp leaders. We'll talk through these 5 resolutions, and would love to hear your personal or ministry resolutions too! Here are a few curious key words for what we're lifting up in 2026: Net PositiveConnect + ReconnectGet DirtySelf-AssessmentParent PartnersIn case you missed it, we wrote up a "how did we do" article recapping the 2025 resolutions. You're invited to read that article or listen back to that episode from last season. It's going to be a great year for outdoor ministry! #statoftheweek Download Send us Fan Mail Support the show Connect with our team. Support the podcast. Ask about advertising opportunities. Find us on Facebook & Instagram.

As we release this episode, it's almost Christmas 2025! We're wishing you a very Merry Christmas from our sacred playground to yours. We're ever-grateful to share this space with you. On this (shorter) episode, we're taking a few moments to answer a handful of curious questions from camp leaders. We'll quickly explore things like staff kindness, phrases like "no margin, no mission", staying cool, and the future of tech. Yeah, quite the array. We'll leave you with a quick Christmas and end-of-year blessing for you and your ministry... As you step away from the schedules, the cabins, and the constant noise of ministry, may you find a quiet manger for your own soul. You have spent your year creating space for others to encounter God; this Christmas, may you encounter Christ anew for yourself. Send us Fan Mail Support the show Connect with our team. Support the podcast. Ask about advertising opportunities. Find us on Facebook & Instagram.

It's true. Adults are a deeply important audience for your camp in one way or another - or more likely, in many ways. Not just as a donor, parent, or partner, but as one who can have personal, meaningful experiences at your camp. On this episode, we're talking about adult engagement at camp, especially in retreat and other year-round opportunities. We've got four reasons why adults belong at camp and, more frankly, need what your camp has to offer. Then, we'll talk through four ways how many camps are creating space for these grownups to experience the unique ministry your site offers. From trust-building to behavior modeling and more, these ideas give us some foundation for why retreat, conference, and other adult engagement ministries matter, and we'd love to hear more from your camp. Our #StatOfTheWeek shares how things are going with enrollment for retreat ministries, and our #QuickQampQuestion asks the other end of the spectrum - if these retreat ministries are eating our summer ministries. Quick Links OMC Director Survey Results Family Camp Episode & Article Dave Sherry & The Sherry Group #StatOfTheWeek Send us Fan Mail Support the show Connect with our team. Support the podcast. Ask about advertising opportunities. Find us on Facebook & Instagram.